On The Run
by wolflover777
Summary: This is as if Max didn't know the flock. What happens when the flock finds her injured one night, after she just blew up the School. The flock doesn't know the ropes to being on the run. Max does. Will she join them? Will Max and Fang fall in love?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey guys. Alright, so I have absolutely no clue where this story is going. It just kind of popped into my head. So this could be great, or it could be a total swing and a miss. Let's see where it goes! Oh, and I don't own Maximum Ride.**

I was running through the halls. I could hear the Erasers crashing trhough the door, knocking it off its hinges. I kept running. It was screwed up. A sixteen-year-old mutant bird-kid on the fun for her life. I turned, scrambling down another hall way. I had to get out of the building before the bomb went off.

I burst through a set of double doors, skidding to a stop when I saw the whitecoats and Erasers in front of me. Several more came in from behind me. "Stop running." one of them ordered. I rolled my eyes. You'd think that they'd learn that I didn't do well with orders. I looked around the room, looking for a way out. That's when I saw the window in the corner of the room. I ran towards it.

I jumped and crashed through the window, bringing my arms up to protect my face. I felt several of the glass pieces cut into me, but it wasn't anything serious. I fell to the ground before getting right back up and running again. I spread my fifteen-foot wings and took off into the air.

A familiar bang sounded, and in the next second I felt a blinding pain in my side, but I didn't stop. I kept going as the building behind me exploded. And that was the end of the School. The place known as hell on earth. I sagged in the air a bit.

Catching myself, I kicked my new power into gear. I flew at around 240 mph, flying as far as I could. But, eventually, I had to stop. I found a cave and flew into it. I had no clue where I was. I just knew I needed to patch up my wound, and fast. But I didn't have the strength to move anymore, and I let the familiar dark of unconsciousness take over me.

(Fang's POV)

I was flying with the rest of the flock, my sixteen-foot black wings stroking through the air powerfully. My flock consisted of four other bird-kids.

First there was me, Fang. I had olive skin and black hair that fell into my eyes. I always wore all black. I have gills. I can also blend into the background. But I have to stay still. If I move, I become visible again. It's still pretty cool though.

Iggy is the next oldest, after me. We're both sixteen. He has strawberry blond hair, and he is the tallest member in the flock, meaning he's about six-two. He's pale, and, thanks to an experiment gone way wrong, blind. But because he was blind, his other senses increased. He's so good at taking care of himself that it's easy to forget that he was blind. And let me tell you, it was creepy how accurate he was with those murky blue eyes of his. He is our expert in fire and anything that goes boom. And he could _feel_ colors.

Then next oldest is Nudge. She has mocha colored skin and dark hair. She has brown eyes, and is the chatterbox of the group. We call her the Nudge Channel. All Nudge, all the time. She is our computer hacker and car expert. She can attract metal to herself, and she has this strange power. She said she looked it up on the web and it has something to do with psychometric. I have no clue what that means, but it was a useful power.

Then there was ten-year-old Gazzy, or the Gasman. His nickname was pretty self-explanatory. He has blond, spiky hair and blue eyes. He is Iggy's apprentice, I guess you could say. He's always with Iggy, and they are always planning on blowing up something. He is a trooper though. He can mimic voices and make an atomic fart. And you think I'm kidding. You can actually see the green fog.

Finally, there is Angel, our eight-year-old mind reader/controller/semi-shape shifter/fish talker. Yeah, she got the power jackpot. She is Gazzy's little sister. She has curly blond hair and blue eyes. She was adorable. But I felt bad for her. She didn't have a mother figure in her life. I was like a father figure to her, but she needed someone she could talk to. A girl figure she could look up to, and go to when she needed help.

We used to live in a house, but Erasers found it a week ago, and we had to go on the run. We escaped from the School six years ago. It was a very…explosive exit.

"Fang!" Nudge called, bringing my attention back to the present.

"Find a place to stay?" I asked.

Nudge nodded. "But that's not all we found." she said. I motioned for her to lead the way. She led me to a cave. We landed to see that Angel, Gazzy, and Iggy were already inside. All of them were taking care of a girl. Her side was bleeding badly, and her breathing was labored.

The girl had dirty blond hair. She was beautiful, but her expression was pained. She was out cold. Her clothes were bloody and ripped. She looked to be about mine and Iggy's age. And she has wings. They're breath taking. They were brown. The primary feathers were streaked with black and white. The secondaries were streaked white and brown. The undersides of her wings were a soft ivory color, and over the tops and backs of them she had brown feathers that faded perfectly into the primaries. It was amazing.

I kneeled next to Iggy. "What happened?" I asked.

Iggy scowled. He frowned. "She was shot in the side. She's lost a lot of blood. If we stop the bleeding now, we can save her, but first we need to get the bullet out." he replied.

"Um, did you find her like this?" I asked.

Iggy rolled his eyes. "No, Fang, we shot her ourselves." he said sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes. "Alright, what do we have to do?" I asked.

"First, we need to get the bullet out." he said. "But I need you to do that." he added, handing me a pair of tweezers. You'll be fine. It's not that deep."

I took the tweezers. "Are you sure that I should do this?" I asked. I was sure to keep my voice calm, but on the inside, I was freaking out.

"Yes, now get the bullet out so I can bandage her up and we can stop the bleeding." Iggy said impatiently.

I sighed, and, quickly but carefully, took out the bullet. I followed Iggy's instructions the whole time, to make sure that I didn't hurt her any worse than she already was. Then Iggy bandaged up her side.

We built a fire and set up around it. I moved the girl closer to the fire. It was cold. "I wonder what her name is." Nudge said. "Do you think she'll join our flock?"

"Not until we know her better." I said. "For all we know, she could be working for the School."

"I agree with Fang." Iggy said. "We should keep a close eye on her until we know that she won't betray us."

"But she can still hang out with us, right?" Gazzy asked.

"Or, you know, I could just read her mind and make sure she isn't evil." Angel said. She focused on Max. Her eyes widened, and they kept getting wider and wider as she listened to Max's thoughts. "Oh, wow."

"What? What is it?" Nudge asked.

"She escaped from the School six years ago, like us. She's lived on the run until earlier this month. She let Erasers kidnap her and bring her back to the School. She let them experiment on her again, until earlier today. She found a chance to place a bomb in the School and escaped before it went off, but she was shot as she was running away. Then she flew here." Angel said, looking down at the girl with awe on her face.

Suddenly, she frowned reaching down. She grabbed a neckace that I just now noticed the girl had on. It was a sliver dog tag necklace on a chain. "What does it say?" I asked.

"It says Maximum Ride. Experiment number 27547." Angel said.

Nudge touched it. Her eyes instantly closed. That was Nudge's power. She could touch something and see flashbacks of people using it or obtaining it. Nudge opened her eyes and frowned. "She didn't get it from the School. She bought it and had that stuff engraved into it. Maximum Ride is the name she gave herself. But why would she have her experiment number engraved into it?" she asked.

Angel frowned and focused on Maximum. "It was so that she wouldn't forget." she said.

"So she wouldn't forget? All she has to do is spread her wings!" Iggy said.

Angel's frown got bigger. "I don't understand it either." she said. "But it's a sentimental thing for her, so I think we should leave it alone."

Suddenly, the girl groaned and opened her eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hey people! Thanks for the reviews! I don't own Maximum Ride! Now here's the second chapter.**

(Fang's POV)

The girl instantly saw us. She jumped to her feet, only to sink back down on a log, grimacing because of her side.

"Relax." Nudge said, her hands up in the universal _simmer-down_ sign. "We're not going to hurt you. We actually kind of saved your life. We found you here with a bullet wound, so we patched it up for you."

Maximum didn't look like she believed her. She looked at all of us warily. Angel introduced all of us to her, and tried to get her to talk, but Max was even quieter than I was. And that's saying something. When Maximum figured out that Angel was a mind reader, she got even more suspicious. But Angel figured out that most people called her Max. It was easier than calling her Maximum all the time.

Max was suspicious of us. She didn't accept the food we offered her, and hardly even looked at us. She'd undone the bandages to look at her side for a moment, probably making sure we hadn't injured her any more than she already was.

"So, Max…I read that you blew up the School." Angel said. Max just nodded in reply. "How long have you been on the run?" she tried again.

Max opened her eyes and looked at Angel. "Six years." she said.

"Wow, we've only been on the run for a week. After we escaped from the School six years ago, we found a house we could live in. But Erasers found us a week ago. It sucked." Gazzy said.

Angel nodded. "I miss our old house."

Max's eyes softened some. "You guys don't know a lot about being on the run, do you?" she asked.

"Dang." Iggy said in mock-surprise. "We got a full sentence out of her."

I rolled my eyes and smacked Iggy in the back of the head. "Sorry about him." I told Max. "We're still teaching him manners. And, yeah, we could use some tips."

Nudge's eyes lit up. "Wait! How about this? We need some help with this on the run stuff, right?" she asked. Everyone nodded. "And I'm sure Max could use some company." Everyone looked at Max, but she stayed silent, watching Nudge with mild interest. "What if you join us? That way, we'll bath benefit from it!"

"Yeah!" Gazzy said excitedly. "That would be awesome!"

"Oh, will you Max? Please?" Angel said, giving Max Bambi eyes. Max looked at Angel, shocked. She grimaced and looked away, but I knew that look on her face. She was caught.

"I'll think about it." she said. The kids cheered. "I'm not saying yes." she said. The kids ignored her.

"This is so cool!" Gazzy said.

"I–" Max said.

"I know! It'll be so cool!" Angel said.

"Yeah, I can't wait!" Nudge added.

I chuckled. "Looks like they already made the decision for you." I told her.

She frowned. "Looks like it."

"Don't worry. We're not too bad once you get used to us." I said.

Max looked at me doubtfully. "You have first watch. Just watch for anything suspicious. Wake either me or Iggy up in three hours." she said, moving towards the back of the cave. She told the others it was time to get some shuteye before laying down on her uninjured side. I sighed. This was going to take some getting used to. Max was definitely…different.

_One Week Later…_

It's been one week since we found Max. She'd opened up to us more. She'd opened up more to us, and she was a natural leader. She just kind of stepped into the roll, even though she didn't mean to. I didn't mind though. These kids were definitely a handful.

Max sighed beside me. We were currently flying over D.C. and the kids were bugging her with sightseeing ideas. "Enough!" she finally yelled. "How about this? If we go sightseeing for one day, will you shut up about it?" All of the kids agreed. "Alright, you can all choose one place to see."

"The Lincoln Memorial!" Nudge said.

"The spy museum." Iggy added.

"The Smithsonian!" Gazzy said excitedly. Max stared at him, shocked. "What? They have a dinosaur section." he added.

"Of course they do." Max said, shaking her head. "What about you, Ange?"

"Can we go to the zoo?" Angel asked.

Max nodded and looked at me. "Do want to go anywhere?" she asked.

"Nope." I said. "So, where's the first stop?"

Max looked down. The Lincoln Memorial was the closest stop to us. "Alright guys, land behind the Lincoln Memorial!" she called to us. We landed behind the Lincoln Memorial, went all the way around, then up the stairs. We all looked up at the giant Lincoln statue sitting on the chair.

"So, who was this guy?" Gazzy asked.

Max sighed. "This was President Lincoln, our sixteenth president. He was president during the civil war, and was responsible for giving slaves freedom. But a lot of people didn't agree with this. One of the guys that didn't agree with it assassinated him while he was watching a theater performance. It was a very tragic blow to our nation. At least, that's what the internet says." she replied.

"So, he was an important guy?" Iggy asked.

Max nodded. "He was a major idol to a lot of people. He's still considered a hero even to this day."

"Huh." I said, staring at Max. "How did you know that again?"

Max rolled her eyes. "I came to Washington D.C. sometime last year and came here. I was wondering who this Lincoln guy was, so I looked him up." she said. We stayed there for awhile before we walked back out.

"Look, it's the Washington Monument!" Nudge said excitedly. Max nodded, only looking mildly interested.

We walked down the street towards the Smithsonian. Suddenly, we saw a dog running up to us, animal control right on its tail. Literally.

"Uh-oh." Angel said. She reached out and held Max's hand. "What are they doing?" she asked Max.

Max looked down at her. "It's animal control's job to catch stray animals, or exotic animals, and find them a place to stay. They put them in cages until they find a place for them." she said.

"What?! Max, we've got to help him! We can't let them put him in a cage!" Max opened her mouth to argue, but Angel whipped out her secret weapon: Bambi Eyes. Max grimaced, then sighed. Faster than my eyes could follow, she bent down and scooped up the dog as he was running by.

The animal control guys looked at her in astonishment. "Thanks so much for finding our dog!" Max said in an excited, _oh-my-God-what-a-coincidence_ tone.

"This is your dog, ma'am?" One of them, a big guy with a bushy red mustache, asked.

"Yes sir. He ran away a couple days ago. Little Ariel here left the gate open by accident." Max said, ruffling Angel's hair.

Angel nodded vigorously. "We were so sad when Total ran away!" she said excitedly. "But now he's back! Thank you!" She caught both of the guys off guard by hugging them.

"I'm sorry, but we can't just let you take the dog. You'll have to come down to the station to get it." he said.

Angel looked up at both the men, who met her eyes. Angel got a concentrated look on her face. "You'll let us keep the dog." she said in this creepy voice. "A woman just called saying that a stray cat was pestering her."

The bushy mustache guy blinked. "On second thought, you can keep the dog. We have to go." he said before dragging his partner off.

Max stared at Angel. "Wow. That was just creepy. No offense."

"None taken." Angel said, walking back over to Max and the dog. She really looked at the dog. "Aw! He's so cute! Can we keep him?!"

Max gawked at her. "Can we-no! We can't keep him! Angel, we're on the run, how are we going to care for a dog?!" she whisper-yelled.

"Aw, come on. Please, Max." Angel said. Max quickly looked away before she saw her puppy eyes. She shot me a look that clearly said _you-try_.

"Angel…" I trailed off as she caught me with her Bambi Eyes. I swallowed hard before saying. "The first time you don't take care of that thing, we're getting rid of it." Max gawked at me, then set me a _you're-such-a-suck-up_ look. "She got me with Bambi Eyes." was my only excuse. Max sighed, understanding what I meant.

"Thanks for saving my tail back there." Max and I snapped our heads around and stared at…Total, I guess? "Who knows what would've happened if those crooks caught me." Max's eyes widened. The others jaws dropped, even Angel's. My eyes widened slightly, which is about as much emotion as I show, so I was just as shocked.

"Great." Max said. "Not only did you let her have a dog, you let her have a mutant talking dog."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Alright guys, I'm glad you like the fact that I update so fast, because I'm really trying to keep up with all these stories and make them good. I appreciate all the reviews, but I need more for this story! Oh, and I don't own Maximum Ride. :(**

(Max's POV)

We decided to put our sight-seeing on hold. We went to a restaurant instead. Angel had to use her mind controlling powers to get Total in. I still wasn't quite used to the whole talking mutant dog thing. We'd figured out he can also jump like twenty feet in the air. Thirty if he has a running start. And he's very cultured, and dramatic. If you want all that summed up: he's going to get on my nerves.

"Angel, remind me why we have to have this dog again." I said as he licked my cheek. _Again_.

"Oh, yes, 'dog'. Thank you so much. I can see we aren't prejudiced in this group." Total said sarcastically.

"Well, you're a dog aren't you?" I asked. "Or are you a rat-dog? Maybe a funny-looking cat?" Total growled at me. I sighed. "Alright, fine. You're a member of the flock now, I guess. I'm sorry I called you a dog, Total. Happy?" His tail wagged and he nodded. I sighed. Would I ever get used to the talking dog thing? I'd thought I'd see it all before.

"We're keeping him because he has nowhere else to go, so we have to help him." Angel said. "It's the right thing to do."

I reluctantly nodded and looked at my map. I was trying to figure out where we should go next. I was hoping we could just cut off the whole sight-seeing thing in the first place.

"What are you doing?" Fang asked me.

"Trying to figure out where we should go next." I replied.

The other kids snapped their heads around. "But what about sight-seeing?" Angel asked.

I sighed. "I don't feel good about the whole sight-seeing thing." I told them honestly.

"You said that you went sight-seeing when you came here." Gazzy pointed out.

"Yeah, and I got shot for it." I replied evenly. At their alarmed faces, I added, "Some guy picked a fight with another guy. It was a bad move. The other guy was in a gang. Some of his buddies came over and one of them had a gun. He shot the man, who had a little girl with him. The idiot almost shot her too, but I took the bullet and then ran with her to the police station."

"Why didn't you say something in the first place? We wouldn't have gone if we knew that you had some bad memories there." Nudge said, sounding guilty.

"It's not that I can't go down there, I was just using that as an example." I said. "Messing around in unknown places can cost you. Most of this city is unknown to me too, since I only spent two days here." I looked down at the map again. Where to go? Where to…ah! I grinned. "Bingo."

"What did you find?" Fang asked.

I stood up. "Guys, pack your bags! We're going to the city that never sleeps!" I said.

"What?" Angel asked, sounding doubtful. "Everyone has to sleep."

I rolled my eyes, but I was smiling. "That's New York's nickname, since it's such a busy town." I said. "I hid there for a whole month before the Erasers found me."

"Oh! We can see the Statue of Liberty!" Nudge said excitedly.

I nodded. "I flew up to the top of her torch when I was down there. It's a great view." I said, grinning at her enthusiasm. I turned serious. "But we aren't going to spend the whole time shopping."

"But we'll spend some, right Max?" she asked, whipping out Bambi Eyes. I grimaced and looked away.

"Fine. We'll spend _some_ time shopping. But neither you nor Angel gets to pick out my clothes!" Both of them looked disappointed by this, but they cheered up again quickly. "We should head out now while there's still some light." I added.

The others nodded enthusiastically and we took off. I flew in the front, since I knew where I was going. Fang was in the back, watching over the kids. I looked over my shoulder to see that Nudge and Angel were still talking excitedly, while Gazzy and Iggy were whispering to each other (Well, as much as you can whisper with wind howling in your ears.). Fang met my eyes and, get this, I _blushed_. I don't even know why! But what I do know is that I quickly turned my head before he could see.

All of a sudden, I felt something brush up against my wing. I looked over and literally jumped (yes, that is possible when you're already in the air). "Geez! You really have to stop doing that!" I said as my heart rate slowed down again. Fang had made it a personal hobby of his to scare the crap out of me whenever he got the chance.

"What? Breathing?" he asked, smirking at me. I rolled my eyes and whapped on the back of the head with my wing.

"You, my friend, are an idiot." I mumbled.

"I heard that." he said, frowning at me.

It was my turn to smirk. "Good, you were supposed to." I looked down to see that we were flying over a town. It was pretty small, actually. Instead of stopping like the kids wanted to (even though we _just_ took off) I pushed them onward. Fang, Iggy, and I had to take turns carrying him. About four hours later, I spotted a cave. "Come on guys, let's land for tonight!" I called back, pointing at the cave. The others nodded and I angled down to it. I held Total closer to me. Angel would be crushed if I let the little bugger fall.

I landed on the cave ledge and took a couple steps forward before freezing. The others landed behind me. Fang instantly noticed my stiffness. "What is it?" he asked, trying to get past me. My arm shot out and he ran into it. I saw him glance at me in the corner of my eye, but I was focused on the Peregrine Flacon in front of me. He was nested just to the right of the cave entrance. Slowly, I extended my wings.

"Extend your wings slowly so he can get your scent. He's territorial and can smell the bird part of us, as well as the human. That will freak him out, which will make him feel threatened, which will make him attack." I ordered. The whole time I kept my eyes on the falcon, holding Total even closer to me so that the falcon didn't think he was a snack. I had to be even more careful than the others, since my bird DNA is from afalcon. What made it even worse was that his mate was home, and she was three times his size. And they had eggs.

"These kind of falcons are very territorial. They usually don't let anything within three miles of their nesting site. Especially other falcons." I told them.

"Is that what you are?" Nudge asked.

I nodded. "I know I'm a falcon, but I'm not entirely sure what kind. If it helps, I have the ability to go up to 240mph when I'm flying." I murmured. Both falcons shook out their wings, and the female took off, looking for food. It's a freaking miracle the birds didn't try to attack us or chase us off.

"Wow, you can really go that fast?!" Angel asked.

"It's like you have hyper drive! Awesome!" Gazzy yelled.

I chuckled and rolled my eyes before folding my wings and starting to walk into the cave. Suddenly, the female lifted her wings and screeched at me. That's when I realized how close I was to her nest. "Sorry." I mumbled, quickly backing up, so that I was on the other side of the cave entrance.

"Max, are you afraid of the falcon?" Angel asked. I heard Fang, Iggy, and Gazzy snickering.

I sighed. "No, Angel, I'm not. But it's not good to stress out a falcon that has eggs to watch over. That has to be stressful enough as it is. Besides, female falcons are extremely protective over their young. Sometimes the slightest thing can set them off." I said, eyeing the female falcon warily as I entered the cave. I turned to Iggy. "You and Gaz go find us some firewood before you come inside." I added as the others followed us in.

"Does that mean it's not good for us to stress you out, since you have to take care of all of us?" Nudge asked.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not all bird. No, you shouldn't stress me out because I'd probably get ticked, but I have a feeling you guys are eventually going to do it anyways." I said sitting down on the cave floor and leaning back against the wall.

"Nudge, Angel, find us something to eat." Fang ordered before sitting down next to me.

"How did you know all that stuff about the falcon? How much else do you know?" he asked.

I shrugged and rolled up my jacket sleeve, showing him three deep scars. "The first time I went up to a falcon's nest, I had the wrong type of body language. Strong and confident, like normal. Not submissive, like a bird just passing through. It might be normal for me, but to a falcon, it's like someone busting into your house and claiming it as their own. It was a Peregrine, just like the ones out there. The female, which is always about three times the size of the male, attacked me. I got out of there, fast, and then looked it up on the internet to try and figure out why it had tried to rip me to shreds." I replied as he stared wide-eyed at the scars.

"Holy crap…a falcon did that?" he said.

I nodded. "They're predatory birds, raptors. They're talons are long and curved, made especially for tearing. I'm surprised I didn't get worse scars that this." I replied. "It hurt, but, then again, most life lessons do."

"Not all of them hurt." he said solemnly. I was about to ask him what he meant when Iggy and Gazzy came back with the firewood. Which meant dinner would be soon and…yeah, I got distracted. Can you blame me though? Iggy's cooking is the best.

**AN: Alright, guys. I don't know how good that was, so I need you to review and tell me! Okay? And suggestions would be great too! I want to know what you guys want in this story. I can't guarantee that it will be put in, but all suggestions are considered! So review! (-.-) Kirby wants you to!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. I've been really busy, but I'm here again! So here's the next chapter, and, for those of you that haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Maximum Ride. Too bad.**

(Fang's POV)

I had third watch last night, so I was the first one up this morning. Remembering what Max said last night, and her scars, I'd been extra careful around the falcons. No reason to tick them off and get a chunk taken out of me.

I heard rustling behind me and turned to see Max starting to wake up. She groaned and slowly got to her knees, then her feet. She stretched her arms above her head and rolled onto her toes. I winced as her back cracked. "That can't be good for your spine." I told her matter-of-factly.

She jumped about a foot in the air. "Geez!" she whisper-yelled, careful not to wake up the others. She looked over her shoulder at me and gave me a sheepish grin. "Sorry. I forgot you were on watch." She walked over and spread her wings, shaking them. Probably trying to work out all of the kinks in them. Afterwards, she sat down next to me.

"What about the flock?" I asked.

She shrugged. "We're about to go into a really noisy city. Let's let them have some peace and quiet for a little while." she said.

I nodded. "Iggy isn't going to like that. He gets around based on sound." I looked over my shoulder at him.

"Yeah," Max said, "but it's a nice place." She sighed. "Still, it will be difficult for him."

"Where are we going to stay while we're there?" I asked.

Max shrugged. "Don't know yet. I'll find a place when we get there."

We sat in silence for a few more minutes before Max got up and started to affectionately kick the flock awake. Iggy instantly started making breakfast. Gazzy whispered to him, probably about their latest bomb. Angel and Nudge started talking to each other, and I was hanging around by the fire, watching to food cook.

I suddenly noticed Max wasn't around the fire with us. I quickly did a 360 and saw her at the mouth of the cave. She was leaning against the side, opposite of where the female falcon was. She was looking out, her eyes carefully scanning the ground and the air.

"Max?" I asked walking up to her. She didn't answer. "Max? Max. Max!" She didn't look at me until I put a hand on her shoulder. She jumped and spun around. I had to quickly duck to avoid the punch she sent at me.

She saw that it was me and quickly backed up. "Sorry! I didn't hit you, did I? Crap. Sorry." she said, babbling.

"Max, I'm fine." I said. The others were watching us with concern. "Are you alright? You've been acting weird all morning."

Max gave her head a quick shake, as if she was trying to keep herself awake. "I'm fine." she mumbled, avoiding my gaze. "I'm just…off today."

"Why?" I asked. "Is something wrong?"

She shook her head. "Maybe I'm sleep deprived." she grumbled. "I didn't sleep very well last night." She walked over to the others. "What's for breakfast?" This question was directed at Ig.

"Eggs, bacon, and sausages." Iggy replied. I could practically see all of the flock's mouths watering.

After breakfast, Max ran out of the cave. She let herself drop, snapping her wings out at the last minute. She shot up into the sky and turned. She hovered, waiting for the rest of us. I let the others take off first, following behind them. Iggy and Gazzy instantly started talking again. Angel and Nudge were the same, leaving me and Max flying in the front. Max was quiet, being sure to watch where we were going and keep us on track.

I sighed. "So…"

"So…" she repeated, smirking at me. I smirked back at her.

"What's it like in the Big Apple." I asked.

Max shrugged. "Like every other big city you ever go to." she said. When she saw my face she added, "Right, you guys have lived a very secluded life. Alright then. It's got a lot of roads, a lot of people, and a lot of really tall buildings and monuments. And, unfortunately, a lot of shops." At this, we heard Nudge cheer behind us.

Max sighed. "Yeah, so basically, we're going to have a lot of problems with Nudge and Angel." she summarized.

I smirked. "You mean you're going to have a lot of problems with Nudge and Angel. Me, Iggy, and Gazzy will go do something more manly." I told her.

She whapped me on the back of the head with her wing. "No, you won't. It's not a good idea to separate, especially in a big city." Max said. "People get lost, jumped, do I have to go on?"

"Alright, point taken. But I don't want to go shopping."

Max gave me a _And-you-think-I-do?_ look. "Get over it." she said. We arrived at New York that night, since we were going easy. Max looked down as we flew over the city. The rest of us gasped, and Max smirked at us, an amused expression on her face. She scanned the city and landed on a tall, abandoned-looking building.

"We'll stay here for tonight." she said. "We might find a better place later."

Iggy and Gazzy set out to find some fire wood. Max asked me and Nudge to buy some food. When I asked why she wanted us to go, she mumbled something about Angel wanting to spend some quality time like her. When she said this, she rolled her eyes and shuddered.

Nudge and I bought hotdogs, complete with buns, ketchup, mustard, and chili. Enough to feed a small army. When we got back, Iggy and Gazzy were hiding out behind one of the machines on top of the building. They quickly motioned us over and pointed at Angel and Max.

Angel was sitting on Max's lap and Max was telling her a story. She was really into, gesturing with her hands to make the story seem more real. It was totally made up, and she seemed to just be going with it. As if she was coming up with this stuff on the spot. Angel's eyes were shining as she looked up at Max, completely captured in the story. Max was grinning and looking down at her, her _this-is-going-to-be-torture_ attitude gone. Looking at them…it really did kind of look like Max was her mother figure. Angel looked up to her.

When Max was done, Iggy came out from behind the machine and grinned at her. "Great story." he said, giving us away. We all came out from behind. Max blushed, but surprisingly let Angel stay on her lap.

"Shut up." she said, rolling her eyes. "Did you guys get the food? And why didn't you tell us you were back?"

"I'm kind of glad they didn't. I wanted to hear the end of the story. You're really good at telling them." Angel said, smiling up at her. Total, who'd been laying beside her, nodded.

"I've never heard someone make up a story like that and tell it so well." he said.

"I agree actually. It was pretty cool." I said, giving her a half-smile. "You're really good at that. How do you make up stories on the dot like that?"

Max shrugged. "I have a very active imagination." she replied. "It's pretty easy actually."

Iggy started making the fire. We just stuck the hotdogs on sticks and put them over the fire. Max said that if she ever had kids, this is probably how she would cook them Poptarts. I grinned at her when she said that. Max told me that she's take third watch, since I took it this morning.

"Goodnight, Fang." the kids and Iggy said at the same time. We all stacked fists with each other, including Max.

"Goodnight." I replied.

Max sighed, watching them for a second before she laid down. She laid down on her side, her back facing me. "Goodnight, Fang." she said. It was so quiet, I almost didn't hear her.

I smiled slightly. "Goodnight, Max." I said, looking back at her for a second before looking back out over the town. It really was an amazing place. I could get used to it here. I wonder if I could convince Max to settle down.

**AN: Alright, peoples, there you go! That's the chapter! Review and tell me what you think. I'm not getting nearly enough reviews for this story. Please review and tell me what you think. Suggestions are always welcome!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hello people! Here's the next chapter! Enjoy! **

**P.S. I don't own Maximum Ride :(**

(Fang's POV)

We've been at the Big Apple for two weeks now **(AN: You know what's ironic? I'm eating Apple Jacks right now. Hmm…)**. I was trying to work up the courage to talk to her about settling down. But, I figured I might as well get it over with before the flock wake up.

"Max? Can I talk to you?" I asked her.

She looked up at me, slightly surprised. "Um, sure. What do you need?" she asked.

"Max, this really is a great place, and I was wondering…don't you think we can settle down here?" I asked her.

Max stiffened next to me. "No." she said firmly.

"But I–"

"No!"

"Max, we–"

_"No!"_ This time, she actually did yell. The flock woke up with a start.

"What's going on?" Angel asked, sounding scared.

"Max, why can't we just settle down? Aren't you tired of being on the run?" I growled.

"Not really. Don't you get it, Fang? We can't just settle down wherever we feel like it! There are Erasers, whitecoats, and other experiments that will come after us! If we stay in one place for too long, they're going to catch up to us!" Max said, sounding exasperated.

"But you blew up the School." Iggy said.

"No, I blew up one branch of School. There could be more branches. In fact, I'm ninety-nine percent certain they do." she replied grimly.

"Well, I still think we should settle down. How are they going to find us in a big city like this?" I asked.

"You lived in the middle of freaking nowhere before! How did they find you then?!" Max was obviously frustrated, but I was tired of running. And I wanted her to see it from my point of view.

"Look I just–"

Max cut me off. _Again._ "No. We're leaving tonight. Make sure you're all ready." she said before throwing herself off the top of the building.

"Maybe you shouldn't have pushed her so hard." Nudge said.

"I didn't! She wouldn't even let me get a word in!" I said defensively. "Why is she so against just settling down somewhere?"

"Who knows?" Iggy said. "This is Max we're talking about. She does things differently from us. But she's more experienced, so I think we should trust her."

The others agreed. I was still confused, but decided to drop it for right now.

(Max's POV)

I landed in an alley. I quickly walked into the street, blending in with the crowd. Over the past two or three days, I've been seeing flashes of darkness. I know that sounds weird and cliché, but it's true. It's just little flashes out of the corner of my eye. I don't have any proof, so I can't tell the flock. Plus, I don't want them to worry.

But I have a bad feeling that something will happen if we don't get out of here tonight. And then Fang has to be Mr. Let's Settle Down. What's he thinking? That we're just going to buy a house with our magically-appearing money and just blend in with all the non-winged? Well, I'm not that naïve.

I just wandered. I don't know why I'd stormed off like that in the first place. I guess I just got ticked off. I didn't want to deal with it. I soon found myself wandering down a dark alley. _Crap._ Well, this couldn't get anymore cliché than it already is. But, of course, I spoke too soon.

I felt something smack into me, slamming me into the wall. The breath left me with a _oof!_ I felt a blinding pain in my side, and at the same time I felt teeth clamp down over my shoulder. Whatever was in front of me jerked it's head and its teeth tore through my shoulder. I cried out in pain and instinctively threw my knee up. I felt it connect with something that felt like someone's gut. I saw sharp teeth glint in the dark as a hissing sound erupted from the thing in front of me. It wasn't an Eraser. The things mouth was too small, even if the teeth were sharp enough.

I round house kicked the thing in the head before I ran and took off, not really caring who saw me. I rose up above the buildings and saw the shadow looking things scale the buildings easily. But the closest they could get to me was the roofs.

I poured on my super-speed. I had to get to the flock. I had to warn them, and I had to get them out of here. My side and shoulder throbbed. I landed clumsily on the roof. All I could do is pray I wasn't followed.

(Fang's POV)

Max landed clumsily in front of us. Max grabbed my arm for support as I rushed up to her. Blood was pouring down her side and arm. "Max! What the heck happened?!" I asked, alarmed.

Max swallowed hard. "I told you we weren't safe. I'll tell you later. Right now, we need to _go_." she said urgently. Her eyes were filled with pain. "Get everything packed up." We all just kind of stared at her for a minute. _"Go! Now! Move it!_" she bellowed.

We moved quickly. When Max orders something in that voice, you do it, and you do it freaking _fast_ man. We were all ready and packed. Just as we were about to leave, Max stiffened and looked at the edges of the roof. These black, shadow looking things climbed up onto the roof.

_"U and A! Now! Move it! Go, go, go!"_ Max yelled, surpisingly strong in her injured state. The kids instantly shot in the air, but I looked at her stubbornly.

"You first." I said. Max looked like she wanted to argue, but one look around us told her we didn't have time. She nodded and shot into the air. It seemed harder for her, but the difference in this flying and her normal flying was subtle. I shot up after her, making sure she didn't fall out of the sky.

We kept flying until we found a cave. Max's landing was clumsy, bordering on hazardous. "Max!" the flock shouted. Total even whined and licked her face worriedly.

Iggy made Max lay down. He took off her jacket and started feeling around her injuries. Max groaned in pain. "Jesus, Max. It feels like someone tore your side open and your shoulder. What happened?"

"It was those shadow things. Apparently they have claws. And sharp teeth that can easily rip through shoulders." she growled.

Iggy got the first-aid kit and started stitching her up. Max passed out halfway through.

**AN: Ooh, cliffie. Will Max be okay? I need reviews people! What should I call the shadow creature guys? You must obey Kurby. (-.-)**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hello peoples! I decided to call the shadowy guys Shadows. I know it's not creative, but, like a reviewer said, neither is Whitecoats. So, here's the chapter!**

(Max's POV)

I groaned as I came to. I tried to sit up, but my side and shoulder exploded in pain and I whimpered. "Max!" I heard someone whisper-shout to me. _Fang_, I thought through the fog in my head. I opened my eyes to see him looking down worriedly at me. I looked around the cave we were in. The others were asleep. _So that's why he was whisper-yelling_, my still-foggy brain thought.

I tried to sit up again, but Fang gently pushed me back down. "Just stay still. Everything's fine, Max. You just need to focus on resting and getting better." His voice was filled with as much worry as Fang's voice could get. Which wasn't much, but that meant he'd probably been driving himself insane.

Ignoring his orders, since I don't follow anyone's orders but my own, I sat up and moved so I was leaning against the wall. I lifted my shirt up just enough to see the stitches on my side. It was a nasty looking wound. The skin surrounding the wound was black, it was so bruised. I could also see a bruise on my stomach, from where the Shadow had slammed me into the wall.

Fang glared at me, giving me a _you're-too-stubborn_ look. I smirked at him. "I don't do good with orders." I mumbled, wincing at my own voice. It sounded hoarse and weak. "Have you seen any other sign of the Shadows?" I asked.

"Shadows?" Fang said, cocking an eyebrow at me.

"You know, shadowy looking creatures that tore me up and tracked us down? Like I told you they would?" I asked, anger coming into my tone at the last question, remembering our earlier fight.

"You were right. I'm sorry. Now can we focus at the problem at hand?" Fang asked, clearly frustrated. "Max, how are you feeling?

I rolled my eyes. "I'm fine, Fang."

He glared at me. "Don't give me that crap. You passed out!" he growled. "You had your freaking side and shoulder torn up!" His fingers lightly grazed my wound and I groaned. All the fog left my brain and the pain that had been only slightly unbearable before turned into a pain which made me bit my lip to keep from screaming.

I shot him a _be-quiet-or-you'll-wake-up-the-kids_ looked mixed in with a_ if-you-do-that-again-I'll-kill-you_ glare. "Alright, fine. My wounds feel like they're on fire, and I feel sore all over. Happy?" I growled back. "But it's more important to think about our current situation. Now, have. You. Seen. Any. More. Shadows?" I asked, putting emphasis on each word.

"No." he replied. He looked worried again. "How long do you think it'll take you to heal?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Probably four or five days. But we need to keep on the move…" I trailed off, figuring out our new problem. We needed to keep on the move, but I couldn't fly.

"I could carry you." Fang suggested.

I shook my head. "We'd have to take too many breaks." I sighed. "We'll have to steal a car." I mumbled.

"Steal a car?" Fang actually did yell that time. I winced as a pounding migraine started. The kids shot up, getting into defensive positions and looking around the cave for danger. When they just saw me and Fang, and registered the fact that I was awake, they ran over with yells of "Max, you're alright!" and other similar things.

"Why aren't you laying down?" Iggy asked sternly. I rolled my eyes. "And what are you yelling about? You shouldn't be stressing her out!" He directed that one at Fang.

Fang glowered at him. "She just suggested that we steal a car!" he said.

"What?" Iggy yelled and I winced again, both of my hands going to my ears.

"Max is saying that the next person who yells is going to die a slow and painful death." Angel said, the threatening words sounding wrong with her innocent, angelic voice. "She has a really bad migraine and you're both yelling."

"Sorry, Max." they both murmured.

I nodded and sighed. "Look, I can't fly, and we won't be moving fast enough if Fang carries me. The only other option is stealing a car." I said. "I've done it before. I'll just work some magic under the hood and we'll be off."

"Magic under the hood?" Gazzy repeated, frowning in confusion.

"She means hotwiring." Iggy said, his sightless eyes watching me sharply. "How do you know how to hotwire a car?"

I shrugged, only using my uninjured shoulder. "When you're on the run for as long as I am, you need to know certain things." I said. "So that you can survive. One of those things just happens to be how to hotwire a car."

"But–" Nudge started, but I cut her off.

"Enough. We're stealing a car. Tonight. End of story." I ordered, fixing each of them with a look, my chin slightly raised, daring them to challenge me. They didn't know. They all just nodded, with differing levels of enthusiasm.

(Fang's POV)

_ I can't believe we're doing this_, I thought as I broke the lock to the police compound. It was a small town and we'd already checked for cameras. According to Max, we didn't need the keys to the car, being able to hotwire it was enough. She said we wouldn't have it long enough to get caught, as long as we traveled under the speed limit.

I was walking towards the car when I realized yet another problem. "Um, Max?" I asked her. She was standing beside me, subtly leaning against me for support. She didn't want to worry the kids, and she didn't want them to see her weak.

"What?" she asked. It was wrong. Her voice was tired and unfocused, not strong and in control, like it usually was.

"None of us know how to drive." I told her.

"I do." she murmured.

I glared at her. "I'm not letting you drive in your condition." I said.

She looked up at the sky and closed her eyes. "Give me patience." she said. She looked back at me. "Of course I can't drive in my condition. But I can tell you what to do. We'll take that truck." she added, pointing to a brand-new looking truck. I looked inside. Thankfully, it wasn't a stick shift, and it had six seats. Max looked at the ticket on the truck. She scowled.

"Taken for possession of 10 kilos of cocaine and marijuana. The owner was arrested for intent to sell." she said with disgust. "I don't feel bad about stealing the car anymore." She stopped leaning on me, instead leaning on the truck as she walked to the hood. She popped the hood open and bent down. A few minutes later, the truck kicked into life.

Max shut the hood. "Alright, Fang, you're in the driver's seat. I'm in the passenger seat, and Angel is between us. The rest of you are in the back." The flock quickly moved to follow her orders. Max got into the truck a little slower than the others, but they didn't seem to notice. She was good at hiding her pain.

After Max showed me how to turn on the car and put it in drive, we started to off. Let's just say, I can't wait until Max is well enough to drive. I suck at it.

**AN: Alright guys, I hope you enjoyed it! Please review! I want to know what you guys think. (-.-)**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Yo. Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I would've updated earlier, but I had to go to a b-day party. As for Saturday, I was at Marching Band camp all day. The other days I won't make excuses for. Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter and I don't own Maximum Ride.**

(Max's POV)

I winced and bit my lip to keep from groaning as Fang hit yet another pothole. "Road maintance is getting lazier and lazier." I murmured.

"Sorry, Max." Fang said, thinking that it was his driving. He wasn't necessarily doing _good_, but he wasn't doing _bad_. Kind of…neutral, I guess?

"I'm fine." I said, rolling my eyes. Geez, he's such a worrywart. Yes, I'm injured. Big deal. I used to get injured all the time back at the School. He acts like I'm this delicate little flower or something. It's actually very annoying.

He nodded next to me. Angel was leaning against him, attempting to sleep. The others were also out. I was somewhat awake. Actually, about half-conscious because of the pain, but Fang didn't need to know that.

"So, Max, what's up with your necklace?" Fang asked.

I closed my eyes as memories came rushing back. My elbow was propped on the armrest, my head propped on my hand. I had been staring out of the window. I sighed. "What about it?" I murmured, trying to avoid waking the sleeping Angel.

"It has an experiment number on it. Is it yours?" he clarified.

I hesitated, wondering how much I should tell him. "No, it's my brothers." I told him. "He died two years ago."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Fang said, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"He was an Eraser. We used to fight all the time. He constantly wanted to kill me. It's the Eraser bloodlust. But then his expiration date showed up, and he didn't care anymore. Before he died, we started hanging out more. I taught him how to read and write. We bonded. And then, one day…he just died. It was bad. We'd been in the middle of fighting a bunch of other Erasers. He died in my arms." I continued, hardly even registering the fact that he had spoken.

"My father, Jeb Batchedler, was his father too. Ari had actually been born a normal kid. But when he was three, they turned him into an Eraser. They wanted to see if an Eraser would last longer if it wasn't created during infancy." I murmured. "I found papers giving the other whitecoats permission to turn him into an Eraser. Jeb signed them."

"Expiration date?" he asked, sounding alarmed.

I nodded. "All of us were born with them. But the scientists figured out how to get rid of it in avian hybrids. They just hadn't figured it out in lupine hybrids. So the flock should have a normal life span. If these Shadows don't kill us first." I explained.

Fang was quiet for a while. I don't blame him. I mean, what do you say when someone gives you this kind of information. "I'm sorry about your brother. And your dad." he finally said.

"Yeah, well, like they say, you can't choose your parents. Besides, Jeb was always in charge of my experiments as well. To me, he's only a biological father. In any other way, he's dead." I growled, my fist clenching. "He's a (insert cussword hear)." I added.

"He sounds like it." Fang said tentatively, as if he wasn't sure if I would take him insulting Jeb offensively. I shot him a half-smile to show that it didn't. He smiled back. "So, you've been on your own for six years?" he asked. "That had to be tough."

I shrugged. "I'm used to being on my own. I was alone at the School too. Basically, I've spent most of my life alone. I have to admit, though. Having others around definitely makes the day more…interesting." I said, smirking at him.

He rolled his eyes. "Trust me, it's more interesting with you around too." he murmured.

I scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Well, since you've been here, we've gone to D.C. and picked up a talking dog. Then we went to New York and got attacked by Shadows. Now we're hijacking a car. The flock hasn't had this much excitement in ages." he said, grinning. "I'm actually kind of relieved. We needed something more interesting in our lives. When we were in hiding, it was torturously boring."

"But," he continued, "there are some times when I miss it. Just being able to relax and hang out. Sometimes I wish that we could take you back to it."

I nodded. "Yeah. There's always going to be times like that." I told him. We were silent for the rest of the ride. We eventually found a campsite, and Iggy and Fang forced me to sleep. I was not a happy camper about it.

(Fang's POV)

Max was driving the car. It's been four days since we stole it, and Max said that she was healed enough to be able to drive. In fact, she told us that we could ditch the car tomorrow. Needless to say, she was a heck of a lot better driver than I was. Max easily slid the car along the road, her eyes constantly moving from one mirror to another.

"So, Max, how did you get to be so good at driving?" I asked.

She smirked. "Practice." she replied. "When I first drove a car, I ended up getting chased by the cops. I ran through a corn field to get away from them. Came out on the other side…and crashed into a car driving down the road. You should've seen it. Both cars were flipping over and over, glass breaking…" she shuddered. "It was bad. I still don't exactly remember leaving the accident. I sure as hell don't remember _how_ I left the scene, but I'm assuming I walked."

Angel giggled. "Fang is a better driver than you were." she said.

Max rolled her eyes and glared at her for a split second before returning her eyes to the road. "Yeah, hahaha. You're hilarious." she muttered.

Suddenly, the car next to us slammed into us. Max quickly turned the wheel to keep us from getting run off the road. We looked over to see that the car next to us was packed full of Shadows. Max swore and slammed on the gas. We shot forward. You'd think we'd be slamming cars out of the way and causing total havoc, right? Wrong. Max expertly weaved in and out of the other cars, never hitting one.

Max turned into a Wal-Mart, hitting the turn at 30 miles over the speed limit. She slammed down the breaks, put the car in park, and jumped out. "Come on." she said urgently, putting her seat down so the others could climb out. "Behind the Wal-Mart and U and A."

We all ran, Max running at the end to make sure we didn't leave anyone behind. We all shot up into the air, quickly gaining altitude. I saw Max grimace as she worked her wounded muscles. I used my eyes to ask her if she was alright. She just nodded in response, moving to the front of the flock and leading us away.

"How did they find us?" Nudge asked. "I mean, we were in the middle of a freeway in a car! They shouldn't have known where we were! This isn't fair. This is stupid!"

Max scowled. "I've been wondering the same thing." she murmured. "It doesn't make any sense. How can they find us so fast?"

I nodded. "It's frustrating. We're at a disadvantage. They can find us, but we have no idea where they are, or how to defeat us." I said.

Max nodded. "We need to figure out how they…" she trailed off and recognition dawned on her face. Max grabbed Total from Iggy, who had grabbed him from the car before we left.

"Hey!" Total yelled, growling at her.

Max grabbed his collar and snapped it. She hovered and held it up in front of us. There was a blinking light embedded in his color. "They used to do this with the Erasers. To keep track of them."

"So…I've been leading them to us?" Total said, sounding devastated.

"It's not your fault." Max said. "It's mine."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I took one of these off of Ari. I should've remembered it. And I knew Total came from the School. I should've checked him for chips as soon as I got my hands on him. Stupid, stupid, stupid!" she said, smacking herself in the forehead with the hand that wasn't holding Total. "It was a careless move that cost us time and ground!"

"Don't beat yourself up so bad." Gazzy said.

"Yeah, one of us should've thought of it too." Angel added.

"And not even Maximum Ride is above forgetting." Iggy said.

Max sighed. "But I'm the most experienced…" She shook her head. "It doesn't matter now. What's done is done. Right now, we need to go. The further we can get away from here, the better." she said, crushing the lighted area in the collar and then dropping it. Max kept a hold on Total and kept moving. We went all the way up to Colorado.

"I can't believe we flew all that way." Nudge said. The kids were exhausted. "I'm too tired to even talk." Everyone but Max nodded in agreement. She seemed tired, but not nearly as tired as the rest of us.

"Why aren't you tired?" Iggy asked her.

Max shrugged. "I've conditioned myself for a long flight. It's a useful talent to have." she said. "I'll take first watch. Goodnight guys, and be careful." she added, sitting at the edge of the cave we'd found. I walked over to her as the others settled down. "You sure about taking first watch? You are still injured after all."

"Not much anymore." she said, shrugging. "I'm fine. You're the one who looks like he's about to pass out."

I nodded and settled down for the night. I woke up the next morning to find that Max was asleep against the cave wall. When I asked Iggy about it, he said he'd woken up two hours before and had to make her go to sleep. I shook my head. She's too stubborn. She shivered slightly. It was really cold this morning. I took the blanket I'd been using and draped it over her, then silently woke up the kids and got them ready for the day.

**AN: Total was the problem the whole time! So, review and tell me what you think! (-.-) Kurby commands it.**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: I have PM now! Wohoo! Thanks Demon Child Of Night 14 for telling me about that because I would've never had any clue about it. So, here's the chapter guys! I hope you like it, and I don't own MR.**

(Fang's POV)

I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. I'm going to kill Nudge if she doesn't shut up…

"Nudge!" Max yelled. "My ears are bleeding!"

Nudge instantly shut up. _Thank God for Max_, I thought, breathing out a sigh of relief. Angel looked back over her shoulder and smiled at me, having read my mind. She was in front of me, holding Max's hand. We were in the mall at some city because Nudge _insisted_ that we needed new clothes _right now_. And she hasn't shut up since.

"Ooh! Let's go to Areopostale!" she said excitedly. There was a hair dressing place next to it, called Dream Cuts. "And we can all get haircuts!" she added excitedly.

"Actually, that might not be a bad idea." Max murmured. "It will be good for us to change our appearances. With any luck, it might throw the Shadows off some."

We went into Areopostale, where Nudge and Angel got a few T-shirts and pairs of pants. Max then led the rest of us to Pac sun. The rest of us bought clothes there. Then we went to the hair place and all got our hair done. Although Nudge came up with the oh-so brilliant idea that we couldn't see what each of us got done, or what we bought until we actually had it on.

I bought my usual black ensemble. Black T-shirt with black pants and a cool black jacket. I got my hair cut short, except for a chunk of bangs that went in front of my eyes. I thought it looked pretty cool, but Gazzy just rolled his eyes when he saw me. He'd gotten his hair spiked, the tips of which were dyed red. He was dressed in a camoflogue from head to toe. He even had a camo hat.

Iggy came in and sighed. "Fang, did they do it right?" he asked me. I raised my eyebrows slightly. He actually looked pretty cool. He had on blue jeans and a dark grey shirt with black jacket. His hair was also spiked, but it was a little longer than Gazzy's and his tips were black.

"Wow! You guys look awesome!" Nudge said as she came out.

"So do you." Iggy joked.

I rolled my eyes at him. Nudge really did look great though. Her hair had been straitened and cut into layers. They'd also streaked it with a few blonde layers. She had on makeup now. Not too much, but it did make her look older. She was wearing a pink shirt that said love, peace, and a few other thinks like that on it in random places.

"You look good." I said, knowing that a lot of girls liked it when people those kinds of things. Iggy walked up to her and lightly started tracing his fingers over her hair. "Hmm…I like the highlights. That's a nice touch." he said. "From what I can tell, you feel pretty."

Nudge blushed. "Thanks. I like the black in your hair. Though it looks like you and Gazzy stuck your fingers in light sockets." she said.

Iggy grinned. "Really! That's awesome!" he said excitedly. Of course he'd find that exciting.

Angel came out next. Her hair was slightly shorter, but it still had the same curls in it. She had on some cargo pants and a white shirt that said _Areopostale_ on the front of it. The writing started out dark purple and ended in a hot pink color. She had a jean jacket over it.

"OMG! Angel you look great!" Nudge said.

I nodded in agreement.

Angel frowned and looked at us. "Where's Max?" she asked.

"Maybe she's still changing?" Nudge asked. "I wonder what she did with her hair. I bet it looks good. It's weird though. She seems to have the styles that no one else can pull off, but they just work for her and–" Iggy covered her mouth.

"Hey, isn't that her over there?" Angel asked, pointing to another store. I looked over and, sure enough, Max was leaning against the counter, talking to this guy as he worked on something. The guy looked to be about thirty, but he didn't have the look of an Eraser on him. He lifted his head up and said something, making Max laugh. Something heated up at the pit of my stomach, a fiery, angry feeling towards the guy.

We made our way over to the store. We got there just in time to see the guy hand something to Max. It was another dog tag and she immediately put it on. "Max! We were–" Max turned at hearing her name and Nudge stopped. Max eyes widened slightly at seeing us.

She had gotten her bangs cut so that they fell down in front of her face, kind of like mine. The tips of them, probably an inch or two, were dyed dark blue, not navy blue, but not a bright blue either. It was somewhere in the middle. Her dirty blonde hair was a little past shoulder length and cut in layers. We could see that she had earrings in from where she pushed her hair back behind her ear. They were little silver skulls with red rubies as eyes. She was wearing dark ripped jeans and a red T-shirt. Over top of that, she had a black button-up shirt, but all of the buttons were unbuttoned. The cuffs flipped up, and ended just below her elbow.

"Wow. You look good." Nudge said, the shortest thing she'd said all day. The rest us nodded. There was just something about it that screamed Max.

"You too." she said. I walked over and grabbed her new dog tag, looking at it. This one said all of our names. It was silver, just like the other one. I raised an eyebrow at her. She just shrugged in return. "I like getting dog tags." she said. I looked down again and noticed two other names. Mom and Ella.

"Who are they?" I asked suddenly.

Max looked down at the names I was pointing to. "Oh. Didn't I tell you guys about them? I met my mom and half-sister a couple years back." She started walking out of the mall and motioned for us to follow her. "It was actually pure coincidence. I saw some jocks bullying Ella and stood up for her. One of the idiots had a gun. After I beat the crap outta them, he fired the stupid thing as I was running into the woods, catching my shoulder and wing pretty good.

"I couldn't fly, so I just kept running. I ended up sprinting through Mom's back yard, almost running over Ella and their dog, Magnolia. Ella saw my shoulder and wouldn't rest until I got some help. When I told her I refused to go to the hospital, she made me go inside to see her mom." Max chuckled. "Irony is a strange thing. Dr. M, my mom, is a vet. She looked at my wing and fixed it right up. But we didn't figure out that we were family until Mom and Ella convinced me to tell them about the School. Dr. M said she and Jeb met at a club somewhere. One thing led to another, and there I was. She had wanted to keep me, but Jeb found out and took me away from the hospital. The doctor, who worked for the School, told her I'd died. Of course, she figured out the truth when I told her that Jeb was my dad." she finished.

"Why didn't you tell us about this? I want to meet your mom!" Nudge said.

Max shook her head. "Not right now. Especially with all these Shadows following us. Mom and Ella are human. The Shadows could easily kill them if they figured out where she was."

"But someday?" Angel asked.

Max nodded. "Someday. Just not today." she said. We walked to the back of the mall, and were about to take off when Max stopped short.

"What's wrong now?" Total asked from his place in my backpack. I was amazed he'd been able to keep quiet for this long.

Max looked around us, her eyes weary. I put my hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "Just though I heard something." she replied, motioning for us to do a U and A. We did, but Max stayed on the ground, carefully surveying her surroundings. She shook her head and took off, coming up to meet us. And that's when I saw a flash of black.

"Max! Shadow at ten o'clock!" I called. Max looked behind her and did a barrel roll as a Shadow launched himself at her. It missed and Max shot up to us.

"I told you I heard something." she said.

"Maxxxxium." it hissed, drawing out the x. Max's head shot down in surprise. We'd never heard one of these things talk before. "Come with ussss, Maxxxx." it said. "Jeb wantssss to talk to you."

"I'm sure he does." Max said. "Unfortunately, I'm not really into family visitation rights."

"Maxxxx!" It was mad now.

"Move it, guys. Let's get out of here. This isn't going to be good." Max said. "We're not sure what these things can do yet." Max said, leading us away at a surprising speed.

"Well, so much for them not recognizing us." Iggy said.

Max shrugged. At least, as much as she can while flying. "It was a long shot. I never said it would work." she replied as we flew off into the sunset. Except for this wasn't a happily ever after sunset. Just a normal sunset.

**AN: Alright guys, that's it. What do you think of the chapter? Review and tell me! I need more reviews for this story! Thank ye!**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Ello peoples! Sorry about taking so long to update. My family from Colorado was in. But here is your chapter.**

(Fang's POV)

Max stared out the entrance of the cave, carefully looking over every scrap of land beneath us. It was her watch, but I couldn't sleep. So, I decided to watch over Max. After all, someone had to watch over her while she was watching over us.

"I know you're awake." she suddenly said. She turned to look at me over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "Stop staring at me and go to sleep. It's kind of creepy."

I sighed and stood up, going to sit beside her. "I can't sleep." I complained.

She chuckled. "Why, are you a vampire or something?" she replied, smirking.

"Oh, haha." I growled.

She rolled her eyes. "Just…count sheep or something."

"Count sheep?" I asked her in a tone that said I was reconsidering her IQ level.

She shrugged. "They say it works." she defended. "If that doesn't work…well, then I can't help you."

"Thanks. You're _so_ much help." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Always glad to be of service." she replied, looking back out of the entrance. She was alert, her body tense and rigid, ready for a fight. "How are we supposed to even see these Shadow things at night?" she murmured frustratedly.

"Good question. Maybe we should sleep somewhere with flood lights." Make gave me a _how stupid can you get?_ look. "What? It's a suggestion!" I said defensively.

Max rolled her eyes. "So, what were you going to do for the next two hours? Stare at me?" she asked. It was only two hours until my shift.

"I wasn't staring. Somebody's got to watch over you while you're watching over us." I replied.

"I don't need to be watched over." she said, rolling her eyes. "I've been at this a lot longer than you have."

"Yeah, but you only had yourself to take care of then. Now you have all of us." I shot back, smirking at her victoriously. She just rolled her eyes and playfully shoved me.

"You're such a dork." she said, sticking her tongue out at me.

"And you're a nerd." I said.

"I'm not the one who spends all their time on a laptop." she shot back.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."

Max suddenly pushed me hard enough to where I fell over. I was about to get up and push her back, but she said, "Now, seriously, get some sleep. We can't have you falling asleep in the middle of your watch."

I rolled my eyes. "But I'm not tired." I argued.

"I don't care. Go to sleep." she said. Despite the fact that she said she didn't care, she quietly started humming. It actually sounded pretty good. It was quiet and soft, a slow tune. Almost like a lullaby. And, sure enough, I fell asleep not three minutes later.

…_..the next morning…_

When I woke up the next day, I cursed having second watch. It was one of the worst watches to have. I looked over to see that Max was still asleep, which was strange for her. She was usually always up before the rest of us. I groaned and rose up to my feet. I walked over to her and gently tapped her side with my foot. "Max." I said, tapping her again. "Come on, Max. Get up."

Max groaned. "Go away." she mumbled, but got up anyway. She yawned and affectionately started kicking the flock awake. Then she put her arms over her head and stretched, her back and elbows popping. She rolled her shoulders and shook out her wings before she was done.

"Are you ready to get breakfast started yet, Your Majesty?" Iggy asked, rolling his eyes.

Max rolled her eyes right back. "I'm rolling my eyes, Igs. You can get breakfast started whenever you want to. You don't have to wait up for me." she said, rolling her eyes. "Get started! Chop! Chop! We don't have all day!"

That got everyone awake and moving. Nobody goes against Max when she's talking like that. Gazzy and I started the fire while Nudge and Angel went through our bags, getting food out. Iggy started cooking the food and I looked around, looking for Max. Max was looking to of the entrance of the cave again, carefully observing our surroundings.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Hmm?" she said, looking over at me. "Oh, nothing. Just a little tired." Her attention returned back outside. "This is a beautiful place. I came by here once when I was on the run by myself. I stayed for about a month. I know this place inside and out. Every tree, bush, and weed. I would've just stayed here if the Erasers hadn't found me." Her eyes were distant, filled with old memories only she could see.

I nodded in agreement. "Maybe we could stay here." I said. "Just forget about the School and the Shadows. Just…settle down, you know?" I asked.

"Maybe someday, but not now." she said, frowning. "We can't just settle down while the School is still around. And the Shadows would find us eventually. I think there's only a couple branches of the School left. Jeb said something about the Institute in New York, but I'm not too sure about it."

"Weren't we already in New York?" I asked her.

She nodded. "But I didn't remember it then. It was just one thing. Something about transferring me to the Institute if I did something wrong again, and the some other guy asked why he would send me all the way to New York when we have a yard and an army of Erasers right there." she replied, scowling. "Not much to go off of, but it's better than nothing."

Recognition shone in her eyes and she slapped her palm to her forehead. "Maybe if we go back to the old School, we can find some clues! There's no way I blew up _everything_." she said, grinning. Excitement showed in her eyes. I never thought I'd see the day where Max was excited about a place that tortured us for the first ten years of our lives, but I grinned too.

"Yeah. They've got to have files on the other Schools. Maybe we can find all of the branches." I agreed.

Max nodded. "And if we can't find them there, we might be able to find them at the institute." she replied. "Finally, we have a game plan. Now all we have to do is go to the School, and pray that there aren't Shadows around it."

I nodded and we went to eat breakfast and tell the others the plan. Then we flew off towards the place that tortured us. I don't think I'll ever get used to that. It's ironic though. The six, non-funded mutant bird-kids are out to defeat the very funded enemies. It makes me want to laugh so hard when I think about it.

**AN: Alright guys, that's the chapter. Tell me what you think! Which means REVIEW! And, no, a review saying, "It's a review so ha!" does not count as a review. I had someone do that to me for, and, I have to admit, I laughed. But I seriously need to know what you guys think. So, review! Oh, and give me some ideas for cities that School branches should be in. Both in the U.S. and in other countries. Thanks!**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Yellow! What's up peoples? I'm so ticked! My mom is making me wear a **_**skirt**_** and a **_**pink**_** shirt to this dinner thing we have to go to. For anyone who doesn't know me, I'm a **_**tomboy!**_** Which means I **_**hate **_**skirts with a fiery, unwavering passion! Urgh! Anyways, here's the chapter and I don't own MR…and I really hate skirts.**

(Max's POV)

We landed on the roof of a half-destroyed School. I carefully looked around. I didn't see any Shadows, but that didn't mean anything. I motioned for the others to stay where they were and dropped through a huge hole next to where we'd landed. I landed in a crouch and carefully looked around the room. Seeing it was all clear, I motioned for the others to come down.

I led them through a series of hallways, carefully checking each and making sure Angel couldn't read anyone's thoughts. We made it to the control room, and I walked over. Nudge sat down in the chair of the main computer.

"Alright, Nudge, work your magic." I told her. She nodded and touched the keyboard of the computer. She closed her eyes, concentrating, and then she started typing. One hacked password later, and we were in. Nudge went through all the files that we'd need, looking up things like "The Institute", or "School Branches". We only found information on The Institute, but it was enough.

It was called The Institute of Higher Living. It trained genetic scientists, with the labs being in the basement. The rest of it was classrooms. There should be an entrance from the subway into the sewer. Of course, that wasn't the only entrance, but it was the only one we could us if we didn't want to be caught. Apparently, it was abandoned when the sewer was built there.

"So, I'm guessing we're going to New York and busting into this place?" Nudge said.

I nodded slowly. "Max?" Fang asked worriedly. I winced and rubbed my temples. "I'm fine." I murmured. "Just a headache."

We got back out of the School and into the air. We flew through the day, and eventually camped out in the woods.

"Great." Iggy muttered as it started pouring. The rain hit us hard. So hard that it stung. I could see Angel flinch every now and then, and moved so that most of the rain hit me instead of her. She smiled up at me gratefully and I gave her a small smile in return.

"Maybe we should find so shelter." Fang said. I nodded, but as I started to get up, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I whirled around and searched the darkness surrounding us. Shadows emerged from out of freaking nowhere.

I backed up until I was beside Fang. "U and A. We've got to get the kids to a safe spot. On three." I murmured to him. He knew that it meant on one. "One!" I yelled, and he and the kids took off. Before I could join them, a Shadow pounced at me. I barely dodged his claws and punched it in the face.

"Max!" the flock yelled down at me worriedly.

"Go! I'll meet up with you later!" I yelled.

"But Max–"

I cut Fang off. "_Just shut up and listen for once!_" I yelled at him. "_Get the hell out of here!"_ And with that, I round house kicked a Shadow and ran off into the woods. I turned briefly enough to see the Shadows following me. _Good_, I thought as I poured on the speed.

(Fang's POV)

I swore and started looking for Max, but the rain was blurring everything. "Fang, we gotta get the kids out of this storm. They're going to get sick." Iggy said. I looked over at our shiver flock. Even me and Iggy were shivering from the cold.

"What about Max?" I asked, my voice strained.

Iggy looked solemn for once. Sad. It didn't look right on him. He looked away, then met my eyes again. "We'll just have to hope she knows what she's doing." he said.

I gritted my teeth, but followed Max's orders. Luckily, we found an old vacation home, used for the skiers around here. It was stocked with food and plenty of blankets. We all had some dinner and then the others went to sleep. But I couldn't. Not until I knew if Max was okay or not.

An hour later, a lightning storm started, and Max still wasn't back. It just kept getting worse and worse. After a few hours, the flock decided to stay up with me and wait for Max. I was really starting to get worried. I'd turned all of the lights in the house on, hoping she'd get the hint and come looking for us here.

Angel sat up suddenly. "I can hear Max's thoughts!" she said. She frowned. "But they're faint. I'm going to have to lead her to us." Angel closed her eyes, and the rest of us stayed silent as she concentrated.

A few minutes later, a freezing Max came in through the door. I instantly went over to her and wrapped a blanket around her. She had three scratches on her cheek, nothing that wouldn't heal. "Are you hurt anywhere else?" I asked her.

She shook her head and wrapped the blanket around herself more. "Sorry about that guys. I just knew that it would be easier to get rid of them if I was by myself. After all, it's much easier to lose one person than it is a group. And, you guys were already in the air, so there wasn't any point of putting yourselves in danger when I could easily lose them." she told us.

"Yeah, looks like it was _real_ easy." I said sarcastically, lightly touching one of her cuts. She flinched slightly, but didn't show much more pain than that. "That's nothing. She said, rolling her eyes. "Just a scratch that'll be gone by tomorrow. Won't even leave a scar. One of the idiots caught me by surprise when I was running past it." She allowed Iggy to put some antiseptic on the cut, even though the smell freaked all of us out. It reminded us of the School. But, after that, she ushered all of us to bed. We argued about who would get first watch. I insisted that she needed the rest. Eventually, she must've decided that it wasn't worth the fight, because she let me take first watch.

**AN: Sorry if it's kind of short, or not really good. I'm kind of tired though. So, thanks for reading and review! (-.-)**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Yo peoples! What's up?...Sorry about that. So, here's the next chapter of On The Run. Enjoy!**

**Oh, and I don't own MR.**

(Fang's POV)

"You know what I like about New York?" Gazzy said as we walked down the street. Yep, we were back in New York as of this morning. The kids were enjoying it. Iggy hated it because it was too noisy, it was too crowded for all of us, and Max kept doing 360s, which was making me paranoid.

"What?" Max asked, deciding to humor him as she did yet _another_ 360. Geez, if she keeps doing that, she'll just draw attention to herself. She looks like a criminal on constant watch for the police or something.

"There are so many people here, and a lot of them are even stranger than us." he said.

I nodded. It was true. Max told me on watch last night that, like in all big cities, you could find every kind of person in New York City. From the rich and snobby, to the poor and homeless. From the charitable to the greedy. From the heroes to the criminals. You could find any weirdo you wanted to here.

"So, when are we going to hit the Institute?" Iggy asked, lowering his voice. If there were Shadows around, we didn't want to alert them.

"I was hoping we could do some more research first. And rest up a bit. There's no point in attacking the Institute when we're exhausted." Max replied in the same quiet tone.

I nodded in agreement. Max winced slightly and rubbed her temples, looking around her anxiously. She unconsciously moved closer to me. Without even thinking about it, I put my hand on the small of her back. She stiffened and looked at me, surprised. "You okay?" I asked her.

She nodded. I just kept staring at her until she caved. "It's just…I can't stand big cities. They're too noisy and too crowded. That's just asking for a migraine." she grumbled, doing another 360. So _that's _why she was doing so many. It wasn't just watching for Shadows, it was a natural reaction to her claustrophobia. To look for any and all escape routes, and to look to see if there's a threat hiding in the crowd.

"Well, at least we'll only be here until we defeat the Institute. Iggy said he had a special treat for them." I said. Max's eyes went to look at Iggy suspiciously, obviously wondering what the hell the mutant bird-kid had up his sleeve.

"You know, usually I wouldn't like that, but this time, I think I can make an exception. We'll want to get all of the experiments out first, though." she said. I looked at her in surprise. Usually, she'd be all over Iggy's case, taking whatever new toy he had and interrogating him about it. She must _really_ not have a good feeling about this place if she was letting Iggy keep his new toy.

"Here's the library." she said, cutting off my thought process. She walked in and signed in using a fake name. Did you know you had to sign in to use the library's computers? What is the point in that? Max sat down and gave the computer a try. She searched for every logical thing she could, but eventually ended up handing it over to Nudge. And we still didn't find anything useful. It was just a waste of the day.

The others were tired and stumbling as we walked out of the library. I admit, even I was struggling to keep my eyes open. Only Max was still tense and alert, searching the shadows for, well, Shadows. I roughly shook my head, trying to wake myself up. I should be helping Max look for enemies, not falling asleep. While standing up. And walking.

"Where are we going to stay?" I asked Max.

"In some caves outside of town." The others started groaning in protest, but Max hushed them. "We need to get somewhere the Shadows can't get to. Or at least somewhere where they'll be delayed so we can escape before they reach us. I swear, the only place those damn things can't reach are the freaking clouds." Max said, grumbling the last part under her breath.

We found a dark alley to take off from. Max insisted on being the last to take off. No Shadows came out to ambush us, but Max still didn't relax. She didn't even relax when we got settled down into our cave. "Alright, spill. What's bugging you?" I asked as soon as the others were asleep.

Max rolled her eyes. "Nothing. We're just about to attack a major branch of the School in a place where the Shadows first attacked us. I have no reason to be stressed out, right?" she asked sarcastically, rubbing her temples. Good old Max. Sarcasm was her form of defense when she couldn't use her fists. "I just have a really bad feeling about this. These Shadows are almost impossible to spot at night. It almost makes me consider going nocturnal."

I sighed. "We can't help that, Max. All we can do is be ready for them when they do strike." I told her.

"How?" she asked bitterly, glaring off into the night. "We don't even know the full extent of what they can do yet. And like Jeb always told me, you can't expect to beat something if you don't know its limits and weaknesses. He may have been an ass, but sometimes he actually gave some good advice."

"Well, we know they have razor sharp teeth and claws. And that they're strong. And blend in well with the dark." I pointed out.

Max sighed. "Yeah, because that's helpful." she said, again using sarcasm. "That only tells us their strengths."

I was about to get defensive when I realized something. The kids depended on Max to keep them safe, and make the right decision. That's a lot of pressure. And it's even more pressure when you're going up against an enemy you know hardly anything about, and you're about to storm a place that is well funded and out numbers you _at least_ a hundred to one. And she's only sixteen. That's a lot of pressure for a sixteen-year-old. She should be having fun with friends and enjoying high school, just like any other normal kid. Instead, she's here taking care of four other kids, five if you include me. She doesn't deserve all this pressure, yet she deals with it. That's more than I could've done.

"Just go to sleep. We'll figure it out, okay? I'll take first watch, and wake you up in a couple of hours." I assured her, resting a comforting arm on her shoulder.

She sighed, but nodded. "I want to look up information on the Shadows tomorrow when we're in the Institute. Don't let me forget that." she told me, before she went to go lay down with the others.

I snorted. Like she'd actually forget. She's too good of a leader for that.

**AN: So there you go people! Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. I was going to do it yesterday, but I think I pulled something in my neck. I was in an annoying amount of pain yesterday, and could hardly move my neck at all. Even now I'm still having some problems with it. Also, I'm going to Orlando today. It might take a little longer for me to update, but I **_**will**_** update. **

**Thanks, and review! Ideas/suggestions/requests are appreciated.**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Hello people. I'm still in Orlando. To answer a reviewers question, no I am not just redoing the books. It might seem like they're very similar now, but it is going to get different. Anyways, I'm going to stop blabbering and let you enjoy the story. So here's the next chapter! Enjoy!**

**P.S. I don't own MR.**

**P.S.S. I hate disclaimers. You'd think we'd all eventually get the point.**

"Come on, Fang. Get up." a voice said. I felt someone shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see Iggy standing over me. I frowned and sat up, looking around the cave. And stiffened when I noticed that Max wasn't there.

_Don't freak out_, I thought to myself. _Don't jump to conclusions._ "Where's Max?" I asked casually.

"Hmm? Oh, Max. She just went out on a flight for patrol. She said that she might be able to see them from the air." Iggy replied, starting the fire. Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge were sitting around the fire with him.

And then Max landed in front of the cave. She shook her wings out before coming inside. I looked at her and raised I eyebrow, frowning. _Did you find anything?_ She shook her head. "Nothing. The Shadows either don't know we're here, or they're just not attacking us." she said, looking at me, but speaking to all of us.

"So, do we attack today?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "Not yet. Today we go into the subway and find the sewer entrance. Then, we're going to go down and find the entrance, check out the security, and all the other necessities." she replied.

"When do we attack?" I asked. I was getting slightly impatient, and I think she could tell.

Max shot me a warning look. "Either tomorrow or the next day. Preferably tomorrow. The longer we're here, the more chance the Shadows will find us. If they don't already know where we are."

I nodded and sighed.

"I can't stand all this waiting crap." Iggy said, frustrated. "Why can't we just go in there and blow the place up?"

"We could, but that could get us and others killed." Max said, scowling.

"Well, I don't care! They're just a bunch of whitecoats! If we don't get rid of them, they're just going to start over again." he yelled, standing up. "We're wasting time here! Can't you see that? Or are you so stubborn–"

"Enough!" Max yelled, cutting him off. She walked right up to him, getting in his face. "It's the other experiments I'm worried about. Besides, we're not a bunch of murders! The point of this is to cause so much damage that they can't start over."

"I still don't see why we can't just get rid of them." Iggy growled.

Max's sighed and ran a hand through her hair, stepping back from Iggy some. She looked up at him, her look somber and sad. It was wasted on him, but her words hit home. "Because if we did that, then we wouldn't be any better than they are. That wouldn't be thinking of them as human. That would be thinking of them as expendable, exactly how they think of us."

Iggy, Nudge, and I stared at her, shocked. Gazzy and Angel looked confused. "We can't let them bring us to their level. Then we'd be the very monsters we call them. And, they'd just beat us through experience anyways. They don't understand the way we think, or act. They don't know nearly as much about us as they think they do. That's why we can still beat them. They don't know what to expect.

"They put us in their equation, and expected it to work out. But they didn't think about something. We're variables, meaning we vary. If we just start killing people, we'll be the very things we were created to be. Weapons." she finished.

"Weapons?" Iggy asked weakly.

Max nodded. "They were going to sell us to the highest bidders. Using us for whatever they needed. Assassins, spies, the military. We're the perfect weapons, because no one but Itex has people like us. We're stronger, faster, smarter. But, unlike the Erasers, we don't have this uncontrollable bloodlust. We don't have any reason to fight or kill. The whitecoats didn't factor our humanity into their little equation." she explained sitting down.

"How do you know all this?" Nudge asked, one of the shortest things I'd ever heard her say. She was just as shocked as the rest of us. Well, Gazzy and Angel were still too small to understand some of this, but they got the general idea.

Max shrugged. "Jeb explained it to me. He kept saying that they made a mistake, that they needed to stop while they were ahead. Unfortunately, no one else would listen to him."

"I get it." I said, my thoughts going a mile a minute. "They wanted to sell us not just to make money, but to put us in a situation that would really test us, and give them good results. But they didn't think about the human part of us. The part that doesn't act on just instinct, but logic and morals. They didn't think about how we might not have a reason to kill, so they consider us failures."

The others stared at me. "Who are you and what have you done with Fang?" Gazzy asked.

"That's the longest thing I've ever heard you say." Angel added.

"Maybe, but he does get the gist of it. We're failures, and unpredictable failures at that. That's why they want to get rid of us. Because we 'failures' could be the very things that bring down their organization. Jeb was right, they should've stopped while they were ahead. But they didn't, so now we have to make them stop."

"Why are you telling us all this now?" I asked. It didn't make any sense. Why didn't she tell us this before? Like, way before.

"So that you'll know the true reason why we're doing this. It's not just for us, so that we can get on with our lives. It's so that no one ever has to go through what we've been through. And too keep Itex from making the ultimate weapon. A human hybrid that feels nothing and only obeys orders." Max replied.

"I see. Having a hybrid that has no feelings would mean that he doesn't feel pain or remorse. Basically, noting would stop it from killing, and it wouldn't stop until someone killed it." Iggy said.

Max nodded. She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. "A living robot. That's what Jeb called it. Sure, they could build a robot, but they have all kinds of kinks to work out." she mumbled. "The ultimate monstrosity. Something that would make Erasers seem like playful puppies. And I have a bad feeling that these Shadows might be the closest thing to those monsters."

"How do we know they aren't?" I asked. It was casual, but inside I was panicking. What if we were already too late?

Max shook her head. "They feel pain." she said. I calmed down a little. "They seem to be more like animals than people, meaning they might not take orders very well. But I had to throw a few punches when I was running from them. They definitely feel pain."

"So we just have to beat them before they can upgrade the Shadows, right?" Gazzy asked.

Max nodded. "The more branches we hit, and the more damage we cause, the better. It will put their research back, which is exactly what we want."

"So, what's the plan?" Iggy asked, frowning, his blind eyes looking just above Max's left eyebrow.

"What do you mean? Which part of the plan?" she asked, raising her eyebrow.

"He means what damage are you thinking of?" Angel said.

Max smirked. "Well, we release the experiments there, get any useful information off their computer. Delete everything, and then blow it all up, just to make sure. But we want the building to remain intact. The last thing we need is the government freaking out and thinking that we're getting hit by terrorists." she replied. "Do you have something that we could use?" The last question was directed at Gazzy and Iggy.

Both grinned. "Just give us the chance to make a couple adjustments." they said at the same time.

Max nodded. "You two stay here and do…what you do best. The rest of us will check out the sewers. And, please, be careful. Look out for Shadows, and we'll be back within a couple of hours. Got it?"

Iggy and Gazzy saluted her. "Yes ma'am!"

I rolled my eyes and the rest of us took off, to go dig around in a sewer. I'm starting to think I should've stayed with Iggy and Gazzy.

**AN: Sorry if it's not very good, but I was trying to make this an explanatory chapter. So, there it is. Review and tell me what you think. **


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